Henry! I am glad you clicked that link! However, I find it hard to believe that you actually believe that a 42 million viewing figure for the Royal Wedding indicates a higher level of interest/recognition of the Queen than does 55 million people tuning in to the unscheduled coverage of Bin Laden's death, an event in which Obama played as much if not more of a central role than did the Queen in the Royal Wedding! I think you may be trolling! Posting like Aloysius is fun, I should do this more often!

In 2000, when Bush was elected, .1% of the Indian population had internet access, or ~1.5 million users. In 2010, it was 8.5%, or about 100 million. That, I believe is estimated from subscription to internet service, and doesn't even count unofficial access. I mean, seriously, what are you trying to argue here?

This has got to be the forum with the most passive-aggressiveness in the entire internet. Jeez Louise.

There are lots of other forums on the internet, hope that helps!

Also, that is a very passive aggressive post itself!

Some people are very perceptive!

only have read the topic (but i'm excited to read replies as they will definitely be a logic litmus test), but couple of thoughts.

*I'm assuming 'known' means "oh that's the head of USA" and not necessarily "Barack Obama" (same with the pope, that 'soccer guy', etc).

tentative guess (also assuming you don't get the person in uniform):

1. Obama
2. Bush
3. Queen
*4. Yao

*regarding Yao, I have absolutely no understanding of basketball's popularity in asia. as I understand, they love him in china but I have no clue as to the saturation. I'd consider MJ in the 4 spot.

every educated person in the western world knows obama and I'd imagine the number is pretty high in the east as well. if you are going to cite all the peasants of the world not knowing him , you got to cite someone who they will know.

Never made it as a wise man

ohh good question. i'm taking the question to mean, if shown the most well known/defining picture/portrait/painting of a person, who is the most recognizable.

and no jesus / mohammed / buddah allowed.

seriously no idea. might be someone from today.

Mohammad is the least recognizable person in the world.

He looked like this btw

one of my friends (black) went as Obama for halloween in 2010, and then Tiger in 2011. he looked exactly like both i t was bizarre

This is the actual source referenced in the Wiki http://www.tamindia.com/tamindia/Ima...pdate-2012.pdf.

I've changed location since I got the 63 million number so not really going to fight over the number of TV and just agree with your numbers. The number for the US was seemed low at 210 mullion to me on my original source. The TAM study that your numbers are based on seems too pro TV but the details they give about methodology are not enough to make a judgement on.

That really doesn't change the fact that people don't watch TV. The cricket match still remains the highest viewed event at 64 million. The 9/11 attacks managed 77 million viewers. 5.3% of the population watched the most important sporting event in some time and only 6.4% watched the 9/11 attacks which were without a doubt one of the most important moments in modern history. 3.5% of the population watched the royal wedding. Somehow you think that more than a negligible fraction are tuning into get US news or that US news is the dominant aspect of the coverage.

I wonder if any of the Indian English new stations stream -- that would give us a very easy way to answer this.

yeah henry, think you are way off here. without the costume the Pope isn't in the top 50. most people couldn't pick the pope out of an old man lineup.

as far as elizabeth, I think a lot of the people you are banking on would have recognized her at one time, but she just looks like a generic nice old lady right now. she DEFINITELY doesn't look at all like the woman on the currency. I don't even think we can cite that as relevant.

The question is one of public knowledge of celebrity versus institutions. I tend to favour institutions because their reach approaches 100% over time; on the other hand, celebrity shines more brightly. I don't know what impact being out of office since 2008 has had on GWB's recognizability, or Clinton's since 2000 -- I would think they're reduced, and if true then much of the Obama traction could be ascribed to recent exposure, whereas the Pope or Queen create a slower burning impression over many decades: They don't need to have done anything newsworthy recently for people to know who they are.

I love how we've gone from 'Royal Wedding ratings are a great way to judge interest levels' to 'it's only a few percentage points of the population, how can you possibly infer anything from that?'.

Oh you noticed that slide too?

All,

Conversation w/ a ~30yo Indian guy. Grew up near Bangalore, went to college in UK, currently in Mumbai.

[6/20/12 12:49:08 PM] Diablo: ok completely unrelated q
[6/20/12 12:49:39 PM] Diablo: based on showing people a picture, who is more recognizable in india - queen elizabeth or obama?
[6/20/12 12:49:47 PM] ****** **************: obama
[6/20/12 12:49:54 PM] Diablo: elaborate pls
[6/20/12 12:50:01 PM] ****** **************: obama is huge in india man
[6/20/12 12:50:09 PM] ****** **************: he came here to mumbai, he was on TV all the time
[6/20/12 12:50:26 PM] ****** **************: elizabeth - ppl would think its some random white lady in a costume
[6/20/12 12:50:36 PM] ****** **************: the jubilee was not a big deal here
[6/20/12 12:50:42 PM] ****** **************: didnt get a lot of air
[6/20/12 12:51:14 PM] Diablo: what about the fact that the queen is taught in schools all the time, people watch **** like royal wedding, india/england political history, india/england cricket history, tea gardens/colonialism, etc etc
[6/20/12 12:51:25 PM] ****** **************: all gone man
[6/20/12 12:51:48 PM] ****** **************: american culture rules in india man
[6/20/12 12:52:05 PM] ****** **************: ppl dont remember that british **** anymore except for their spellings
[6/20/12 12:52:17 PM] ****** **************: i bet most indians cant even name the queen of england but most would name american prez
[6/20/12 12:52:30 PM] ****** **************: like ask a cab driver in mumbai who is us prez and who is england queen
[6/20/12 12:52:31 PM] ****** **************: ill put money
[6/20/12 12:52:39 PM] Diablo: thx
[6/20/12 12:52:46 PM] Diablo: so this is a poker player argument going on
[6/20/12 12:53:05 PM] ****** **************: ok ill ask random cab drivers next few days
[6/20/12 12:53:07 PM] ****** **************: im curious
[6/20/12 12:53:08 PM] ****** **************: and email u

The United States is the largest economy and top military power by a large amount. No one is going to challenge the importance of the United States.

When the United States does something that impacts the world it generates attention. Completely domestic issues do not. Obama getting elected did get coverage but no more than the Diamond Jubilee. Since being elected the only other issue that got large coverage was bin Laden being killed. Two things vs multiple decades for the Queen.

If you want to argue that Bush is the most recognizable I'll still say no but at least entertain that it is very much a possibility. He was president during 9/11 and during the US response to 9/11. Ignoring the Queen because I doubt young Americans who grew up with the internet will ever understand why the Queen is the right answer and Bush still makes Obama a non-starter.

You are aware that most educational systems teach their own history. Saying a citizen of an ex-commonwealth country would not recognize the Queen is the equivalent of saying an American would not recognize Washington.

Do people know Bin Laden is dead? They are talking about him like he's still eligible.

If people saw him now they wouldn't know him from a pile of fish poo.

just so I understand,
you are arguing that the person in this picture is more famous than Obama

Thanks El D.

Is Henry trolling here?

Obama, confirmed celebrity

I'm not sure what you point is. Major world events attract attention. 9/11 even more so than bin Laden's death and when you factor in that so much time had past it represents a much large percentage of the people with TV access at the time. 9/11 coverage is likely the highest viewed unscheduled event of all time in almost every country. This in no way changes the fact that the royal wedding has the second highest ratings showing a strong interest in their history.